Lesser Evil
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Siroc saves the life of a young boy, who leads them to their next mission; to save the life of the boy's father, who has been forced to live in a large camp owned by a cruel slave owner. However, this mission becomes deeply personal for Siroc as he must choose to face the fear of his mysterious past, even if it means death. This story takes place after the series finale.
1. Chapter 1

Lesser Evil

Chapter One

On a dark, cold day in the middle of winter, the four musketeers were sent out on orders from their captain, Captain Duval, to ride out past the borders of their city to search for a dangerous group of thieves. King Louis had heard rumors, thanks to Cardinal Mazarin, that they were stealing and killing, if necessary, in several towns throughout France and that they were slowly making their way toward the palace. Little did the young, naive king know that the rumors had been made up by the Cardinal in hopes of leading his adversaries away long enough for him to plan with his secret order to bring the musketeers down; a goal he has long since yearned for.

As several of Duval's musketeers went off on their own searches, the four leaders of his men stayed together until they split up in pairs to search just beyond the border of the city. Siroc and Ramon headed east toward the river, as D'artagnan and Jacques headed west. After searching the woods for over an hour, the four met up again at a clearing near the river.

Ramon was the first to speak up to his friends as he said, "This mission is a waste of time, unless the others managed to run into these so called thieves."

Jacques nodded as she replied, "I believe you're right. If they truly exist and they are here, their best chances of making it into town is to come right through the areas where we've searched."

"Mazarin did tell Louis about these thieves," D'artagnan stated. "There is a good chance that he made these rumors up to draw us away from town. No doubt he is up to something."

"At least we know he doesn't dare make a move against Louis as long as we are protecting him," Jacques said again. "If only we could find proof that Mazarin is the slimy snake the four of us and our captain know him to be."

D'artagnan responded, "He will make a mistake one day. And when he does, we will be there to bring him down."

As the other musketeers spoke, Siroc seemed to be elsewhere as he could hear the others speak, but was not listening to their conversation. As they were about to turn their horses around to head back to town, Siroc dismounted from his own horse and slowly walked away from the clearing and down toward the river.

As Ramon, D'artagnan, and Jacques turned on their horses to watch as Siroc walked away, Ramon shouted, "Siroc! Where are you going?"

Without answering, their friend disappeared from their sight and the others slowly dismounted and began to follow after him. Suddenly, before they had caught up to him again, they heard Siroc shout for their help. They found him on a bank at the river kneeling over the body of a child, who was no longer breathing.

They raced over to help Siroc pull the rest of the child's body away from the water and saw that it was a young boy of about ten years of age. Once they lowered him back down to the ground, Siroc carefully rolled the boy over onto his stomach and began to push up and down, gently, but firmly in the middle of his back. After a few seconds, Siroc stopped and lifted up the boys arms by the elbows and lowered them back down. Then, he continued to push up and down on his back like before.

Siroc continued going back and forth for over a minute without saying a word to anyone, until all of a sudden the boy began to cough up the water he had swallowed and slowly rolled back over onto his back with Siroc's help.

The boy looked up at Siroc and just before he passed out again, he weakly whispered, "My father."

Siroc felt the young boy's neck for a pulse and his forehead for a fever and he firmly spoke up saying, "We need to get him back to our quarters so that I can treat him. He's freezing and he has fever that's only going to get worse without medicine."

"How did this boy end up in the river?" Jacques asked as each of them helped to lift the boy into Siroc's arms after he had remounted his horse.

"I'm not sure, but we are going to find out," D'artagnan answered as the rest of them remounted their own horses and raced off back toward their quarters in the middle of town. "We need to find out who his father is. It sounds like he may be in trouble. That is if he isn't the one responsible for what happened to him."

Ramon replied, "I pray you are wrong about that, D'artagnan. I cannot believe a father could try to kill his own child."

Siroc responded, "No, he isn't the one who did this to his son. There was real concern in the boy's eyes. He was afraid for him. I'm sure of it."

"Well once you make him well again, I'm sure the boy will explain what happened to him and his father," Jacques said. "You were amazing back there, Siroc. The boy will be just fine."

"I hope you're right," Siroc answered.

Later that evening, Siroc was sitting on the side of the boy's bed, where he had been ever since the musketeers had arrived back at their quarters over five hours ago. He worked nonstop to bring the boy's fever down and get him warmed up. Finally, his fever had broken and the boy was now resting comfortably. Siroc no longer feared that he would die, as he knew that it was only a matter of time before the boy awoke.

Ramon remained at their quarters with Siroc and the boy, as D'artagnan and Jacques rode on ahead to the palace to inform Captain Duval and King Louis of what had happened about an hour after their arrival. Once the king had been reassured by his friends that the thieves were nowhere in sight, Duval and the two musketeers rode back to their quarters.

As Duval stepped inside Siroc's room, he found Siroc was still awake as he watched over the boy, but he could see the weariness in his face. Siroc didn't hear their captain as he entered and so he was startled when Duval gently put a hand on the soft spoken inventor's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Duval said as he slowly took a seat at the end of the bed. "I didn't mean to scare you. How is he doing?"

"His fever has finally broken and I have managed to get his body temperature back up to normal," Siroc replied. "I think he'll be all right; at least physically. He almost drowned. It would be terrifying to anyone and we still don't know how he ended up in the river in the first place."

As the rest of his friends entered the room, Jacques responded, "You should go lie down. You're exhausted. We will watch over the boy and if anything happens, we'll call you."

Siroc was about to protest when the boy suddenly awoke and became scared when he found himself surrounded by strangers. Siroc gently put his hands on the boy's neck and shoulder as he tried to reassure him he was safe and that they meant him no harm. The boy seemed to understand and settled down into the bed.

"My name is Siroc," Siroc continued. "And these are my friends, our captain, Captain Duval, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon. We are musketeers. What is your name?"

"My name is Peter," the boy answered. "I was running away from some very bad men, who still have my father. He told me to run. He told me to find the musketeers, but I tripped and fell into the river. You saved my life."

"Siroc here was the one who saved you," Ramon replied as he placed his hand on Siroc's shoulder. "He deserves all the credit."

Siroc ignored Ramon and pulled away from him as D'artagnan asked, "Who were the men chasing you and why did they kidnap both of you?"

Peter responded, "They did not kidnap me. We work for them. We are their slaves."

As the boy said this, Siroc's face suddenly went very pale. The young inventor stood and ran his hands over his face and then through his hair. His friends noticed this, but before they could ask him what was wrong, Siroc suddenly stormed out of the room. The musketeers became worried as they had no idea what suddenly scared Siroc so much.


	2. Chapter 2

Lesser Evil

Chapter Two

Before Ramon could leave the room to go after his friend, Duval put a hand on his shoulder to stop him as the boy continued his story saying, "My parents, along with many others, were taken from their village before I was born and forced to work as slaves when they could no longer pay their annual harvest salary to whoever it was that ran the village. I was born a slave. My mother died giving birth to me. I have been alone with my father ever since. He is all I have. Please help him."

D'artagnan spoke up as he asked, "Why did your father ask you to run away to find help after so many years?"

"We were recently sold to a man in charge of a large slave camp," the boy answered. "He is a mean man, who feeds us very little and will beat any one of us, even a child like me, for the smallest of reasons. Many slaves have gotten sick and are still forced to work. Some have even died."

"Your father was afraid he would lose you too if you did not escape to find someone to free you," Ramon responded.

The boy replied, "Si, Senior."

Captain Duval opened the door and signaled the musketeers to step out of the room as he turned to the boy and said, "We are going to step out so that you can get some rest now. We are going to talk and see what we can do for you and your father. Don't worry, you're safe now."

"We have to help him and free his father," Jacques stated firmly. "I have heard about a few slave owners around, but never of one being in charge of an entire camp. It's despicable!"

"I agree, but we have no idea how many guards this man will have working for him to watch over the slaves or the set up of the camp," Duval responded. "We need to think this through."

Ramon answered, "Once we get the whereabouts of the camp from Peter, a couple of us can go ahead in order to scout it out. Then, we can come up with our best plan for an attack."

D'artagnan shook his head as he replied, "We can't just barge into the camp and attack the guards, even if we were to execute it carefully. Any of the slaves could get hurt in the process. We need to come up with something else."

"I agree," their captain said. "You will get into the camp by one of you posing as a slave. The rest of you will pose as his owner, who is looking to sell him to the man in charge of this camp for a large profit. Any volunteers?"

D'artagnan responded, "I'll be the slave."

Ramon grabbed D'artagnan by the shoulder and retorted, "No, I think I would make a better slave than you or Jacques. You would definitely make a better taskmaster, as you already like to make us do more of the work as it is."

"You're plan is a good idea, but none of you would be able to pull off being a slave," Siroc interrupted as he slowly walked back into the room where they were now all standing.

"Siroc, are you all right?" Ramon asked as they all turned to look at him and saw that he was afraid of something. "Why did you disappear like that?"

Siroc seemed to ignore his questions as he continued, "A man who is ruthless enough to run a slave camp knows a slave when he sees one. None of you show any signs of being a slave and it is not something you can fake."

Duval asked sternly, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I'll go in as the slave," Siroc answered shakily as he slowly turned around and pulled his shirt up to reveal several scars covering his back, caused from being whipped over and over throughout his life.

"Dear Lord, Almighty!" Ramon gasped as he stared at the lashes.

How did you get all those scars?" Jacques asked.

Siroc quickly lowered his shirt once again and turned to face his captain and friends as he replied, "I was a slave since I was four years old, when my village was invaded by marauders and many of my people were slaughtered, including both of my parents. Those who survived were sold to a man, who was cruel and merciless."

"You lied to me when you came to me as a musketeer looking for work," Duval said angrily.

"Forgive my deception, Captain," Siroc responded. "I never meant to deceive any of you about where I came from, but I did come here as a musketeer. For years I was forced to work under that man and was beaten almost every day. Twice I fell sick and almost died, but thanks to a dear friend, who helped to feed my curiosity about how things work in this world, I survived. One day, when I was just over twenty-one years of age, my friend was murdered for helping a man, who had grown too sick to work and was being forced to. As they started to beat the man, my friend attacked one of the guards to defend him. Our owner ordered the guards to shoot my friend. It happened so fast. He died in my arms. Before I realized what I was doing, I stood up then and slashed the man, who claimed to own me, across the face with a knife I pulled from one of the guards and fought through them to escape. I could not take the ruthlessness any longer. A few of the other slaves fought against the guards in hope to escape as well. I took a bullet through the back of my shoulder, but my determination for freedom helped me to press on long enough to keep running from the camp and the guards, who were chasing after me. At some point I collapsed and when I awoke, I was in the home of a man by the name of Pierre LeRaunt; a musketeer. He saved my life and hid me from the guards as they came into town looking for me. He was like a father to me for the three years before I came to be with you over three years ago. He was so impressed with my skills as an inventor and with my abilities to help the sick and inflicted that he gave me the means to increase my education. However, my skill in medicine was not enough when he became sick with plague. He died within a few days, but before he did, he told me to forget I was raised a slave and that I was a good man. He told me to take his uniform and weapons and become the musketeer he was. I promised him that I would."

Before Captain Duval could retort what Siroc had just explained to them, D'artagnan spoke up quickly as he said, "Siroc has shown his loyalty and devotion to the musketeers, to our king, and to our country, Captain. He is one of us."

Both Ramon and Jacques nodded in agreement as Siroc replied, "I don't care if you arrest me for impersonating a musketeer and my deception, Captain, but I ask you to please wait until we rescue the boy's father and the others from the slave camp. There isn't a better way and we cannot let Peter grow up without his father. He needs him."

"Very well," Duval answered solemnly. "I will go speak with the King of our plan. Meanwhile, I want you all to prepare yourselves for the mission. Be sure to scout out the camp first before going in. You will need all the advantages you can get. Good luck!"

Ramon turned to face Siroc after their captain left their quarters and asked, "Why did you not tell us about your past until now? We would not have cared that you were once a slave. Just as we do not care about Jacques' past. Actually, why did you reveal the truth in front of Captain Duval? He is going to have you arrested when we are finished with this mission."

Siroc looked at his friend as he responded, "I did not deceive you in fear of being arrested. I hated who I was. I dreamt of the horrors I had seen when I was a slave every night I slept since I could remember, until I finally began to believe I was a musketeer and not that man anymore. I was afraid the dreams would return if I admitted to you who I was."

"Are you sure you sure there is no other way to do this?" Jacques asked in concern.

"I wouldn't have spoken up if I thought there was," Siroc responded. "I'll be all right. This boy's life is depending on us. I won't fail him."

"I promise you, we will not let anything happen to you," D'artagnan said swiftly.

Siroc nodded and left the room to go back to Peter in order to ask him for the information about the whereabouts of the camp, as the others left to prepare their weapons and horses for their mission.

As they all left the room, Bernard stepped out from the shadows that had hidden the captain of the Cardinal's guards from their view with a dark grin on his face. When he saw his way had become clear, he walked away from the musketeer quarters, anxious to tell Mazarin all he had just overheard.


	3. Chapter 3

Lesser Evil

Chapter Three

The next morning, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon walked into Siroc's laboratory to find him working on one of his latest inventions. It was obvious that he did not hear them as they entered into the room and they could tell from how exhausted and disheveled he looked, their friend had not slept at all.

As Ramon gently placed a hand on his shoulder, Siroc jumped, but ignored this as he spoke up saying, "I've been working on a few things you're going to need for when we make our escape once we find Peter's father; a few smoke bombs and some extra blasting powder that you'll be able to hide upon yourselves and I also carved out a staff for each of you, making them hollow enough to hide your swords in. The slave owner and his guards will never allow us to walk in the camp armed, but they won't think anything of these."

D'artagnan responded, "These are great Siroc. Thanks, but what about you? Didn't you make something for yourself?"

"I'll be posing as a slave," Siroc answered. "All I'll be wearing is loose clothing and chains. There is no way to hide anything on me. My job is to find Peter's father. Once I do that, our escape is up to you."

"I do not like this plan at all," Ramon replied. "You will be left exposed without any way of defending yourself if something goes wrong. And you do not deserve to be forced back into the life you escaped from for any reason."

Jacques responded, "I agree with Ramon. This is a terrible plan."

Siroc gave a small smile and answered, "I appreciate all of you sticking up for me, but this is the only way we can do this. We have no idea how many men, women, and children are really at this camp. Any one of them could get hurt should we go in blades up. Not just the boy's father. I promise you, I can do this."

"You do realize we are only going in to rescue the boy's father and not anyone else, don't you Siroc?" D'artagnan asked.

Siroc looked away from his friends and sadly responded, "Yes, I do know the plan. You better go and talk with Captain Duval. He'll want to hear the final plan. I'll be in the stable getting our horses ready."

Jacques attempted to call out to Siroc as he left the room, but he ignored her. She turned back to the others, who just looked down at the floor sadly. D'artagnan pulled out his sword, as did Jacques, and they both picked up the staffs Siroc had carved for them in order to carefully place their swords inside.

Ramon angrily kicked over a bucket that sat on the floor near where he was standing as he shouted, "This is not right! Captain Duval never should have agreed to this plan and given us the order to follow it through. Siroc is our friend and he is the one taking all the risk!"

"I do not like this anymore than you do, Ramon," D'artagnan replied. "But Duval has given us our orders and is currently explaining our plan to Louis. Everything is going to be all right. We will protect him."

"That is not what we are worried about, D'artagnan," Jacques answered. "You saw how he looked. He wasn't himself. He hasn't been himself since he found out this boy was a slave. He's terrified. We have no idea what going through with this could do to him."

D'artagnan replied, "Believe me, I know."

About five hours later, the four musketeers stopped their journey through the woods as they climbed down from their horses. Once they had tied them to the trees, they walked quickly, but quietly further through the woods until they came to the top of a large hill just at the edge of a clearing. As they looked down, they saw the slave camp, just where and as the boy had described. However, it was much larger than he had described.

As they looked over the camp, Jacques finally spoke up saying, "How are the four of us going to keep an eye on things in a camp this big? How does one man own this many slaves?"

Siroc answered, "Money and influence. No doubt Mazarin has his hand in this."

"We need to get going," D'artagnan said. "Siroc, are you sure you are ready for this?"

"I don't have much of a choice," Siroc responded. "I'll be all right. Let's get this over with."

Siroc walked back over to his horse and pulled out the shackles he had packed among his things. Then, he handed them over to D'artagnan. As their leader began to place them on their friend's wrists, they could see that Siroc's hands were shaking. Siroc just nodded his head slowly and remained silent as he finished.

Once they were ready, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon got back up on their horses, while Siroc remained on foot behind them as they all headed into the camp. As they entered, three of the camp's guards walked up to them as they trained their muskets on the newcomers. The musketeers slowly dismounted from their horses as another man walked over to them, a man who appeared to have higher authority within the camp.

As the man looked each of them over he asked, "What business do you have here?"

D'artagnan spoke up for them as he responded, "We are here to speak with the owner of this camp. We have hopes to do business with him."

"What kind of business?" the man asked again.

"We are here to speak with your boss, if you don't mind," Ramon replied.

The man huffed as he answered, "Follow me."

The man guided them to a tent at the back of the camp and as they entered, they saw a very large man sitting in a chair, which was almost as big as King Louis' throne. There was a platter covered with meat, bread, and cheeses, and a cup filled with beer sitting next to it. The man who guided them into the tent whispered something in the man's ear and then stepped back to listen to the conversation.

"My friend tells me you wish to speak business with me," the owner said. "My name is Ray Pinion. What can I do for you?"

"I have come here in hope of selling you a slave I can no longer afford to keep," D'artagnan answered. "These men are my friends. I invited them to join me in order to make sure that nothing happens to me and that I am given a fair price. He is a hard-working and well disciplined. You will not regret your purchase, I assure you."

The fat man rose uneasily from his seat and walked over to stand in front of Siroc, who kept his head down and his eyes trained on the ground. As the man began to circle around their friend like a vulture, the musketeers began to get uneasy of their plan.

As he finally stopped in front of Siroc once again, the owner of the camp spoke directly to Siroc as he asked, "What is your name?"

Siroc did not answer at first, but after a minute he answered, "Samuel. My name is Samuel."

"Wrong!" the man responded angrily as he suddenly punched Siroc hard in the stomach, then grabbed him by his neck, and shoved him to the ground on his knees. "You have no name if you work for me. You are a filthy, good for nothing slave; nothing more. Do you understand what I am saying to you? Now, what is your name?"

"I have no name," Siroc answered angrily, but softly as his friends cringed and fought to hold in their anger toward the fat man tormenting him. "I am nothing."

The slave owner pulled up Siroc's loose fitted shirt in order to look at his back, looking for signs of Siroc truly being a slave. Then, Pinion dropped the shirt, stood up straight, and walked back to sit in his chair. He smiled as he pulled open a drawer from under the table he sat at and grabbed a small bag of coins, which he then tossed over to D'artagnan.

Pinion spoke up saying, "I like a slave who is as well-disciplined as yours. We have ourselves a deal. However, I want you to stick around for a few days in order for me to make sure he is as you say he is. You can join my men within the camp. If he works out, you will receive the rest of your payment. Am I understood?"

"We understand clearly, Sir," D'artagnan answered angrily.

"Very good," the man said. "Now leave me alone to speak with our newest arrival. I need to make sure he understands I am the one who owns him now, not you."

D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon looked down at their friend and then turned to leave the tent. Two of the fat man's

Once they were free to speak amongst themselves, Ramon angrily said, "I want nothing more than to shove that man's food down his throat. He deserves my blade in his fat belly. I do not know if I can deal with allowing these men to hurt Siroc, D'artagnan. He is my closest friend. No man deserves this, least of all Siroc."

D'artagnan responded, "I don't like this anymore than you do, but we have no choice. Soon, Siroc will be out among the slaves where he will be able to search for Peter's father. He'll be all right."

"I am glad you are so confident because I am not," Jacques. "I agree with Ramon."

"So do I," D'artagnan answered. "So do I."


	4. Chapter 4

Lesser Evil

Chapter Four

Several hours passed since D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon had left Siroc alone with Pinion inside his tent. They walked throughout the camp in order to learn the setup and found that Pinion had at least twenty-five guards working at a time to keep his slaves in line. If the musketeers were to start a fight to help Peter's father to escape, they would all most likely die, as they were well outnumbered, and so could a lot of the men, women, and children around them.

The landscape was a desolate wasteland, where the workers were being forced to dig for iron and other metals in the ground that was then molded for swords, daggers, and other various weapons. The women worked alongside the men, when they weren't cooking meals for Pinion and his men. The children who were too young to do the hard labor were forced to do the laundry and help the women do the cooking. The musketeers had yet to find out who these weapons were being made for, but they had no doubt it was for no one good.

It was later in the afternoon when the friends finally found Siroc working with a pickax to dig for the metal. Not all three of the musketeers could go over to speak with him without raising suspicion from the guards keeping a close eye on their friend. So, D'artagnan picked up one of the water pouches nearby, used by the guards to give them water throughout the day, and slowly walked over to Siroc.

As he got closer, D'artagnan saw his friend had been beaten more after they had left the tent. It wasn't bad, but there was a large and ugly bruise forming across his right cheek and his lower lip had been split open. D'artagnan was seething, but kept his calm as he finally stepped over and handed Siroc some water.

"Are you all right?" D'artagnan asked quietly to keep the guards from overhearing their conversation.

"Don't worry," Siroc answered softly. "I'm fine. I have yet to find the boy's father. There are so many of them. I've never seen a slave camp this big, not even the one I came from."

D'artagnan could sense how badly Siroc wanted to free everyone and replied, "It is one thing to rescue one man, but there is no way the four of us can save them all. You know that."

Siroc looked around the camp sadly as he responded, "If we could only convince King Louis to order these men to them free. If he saw how these men, women, and children were being treated…"

"As soon as our mission is complete, we will go and speak with Louis about how these men are treating these poor people," D'artagnan said. "I promise, but for now you need to focus on our mission. Let us know once you find Peter's father. We'll be keeping our eyes on you. If anything goes wrong…"

"You've helped the slave enough," one of the guards interrupted as he came over from where he had been observing the two men closely and then pulled the water pouch away from Siroc.

D'artagnan took the bag back from the guard's hands as he replied, "I was just giving him some water and seeing how he was adjusting. Just because he is a slave, does not mean he deserves to be treated like an animal. We treat them well and they will work hard for us."

The guard responded snidely, "Only Ray Pinion has a say in how the slaves are to be treated and he believes these slaves are no better than animals. They will be treated however he sees fit. This slave is no longer yours. Is that understood?"

"Of course," D'artagnan answered.

D'artagnan gave a quick glance and nod to Siroc then, turned to walk away as the guard remained standing there until D'artagnan was gone. None of the guards liked D'artagnan or the other musketeers and looked forward to seeing them leave, but they were given orders from Pinion that they were to leave them be to roam through the camp, unless they disrupted the slaves' work.

"How is Siroc?" Ramon asked swiftly as D'artagnan made his way back to them.

"He's a little worse for wear, but he's all right," D'artagnan answered. "He's doing his job. Once he finds him, Siroc will let us know and we will make our escape."

Jacques spoke up saying, "I do not like this. How can we just walk away after we rescue one man? These men are cruel and deserve to be arrested for their crimes. No doubt several of these men, women, and children have already died because of these horrible conditions."

D'artagnan replied, "I told Siroc we will speak with Louis as soon as we get back to the palace. I am positive we can convince our king to set these people free once he sees what we see."

"I just hope Siroc can find the boy's father sooner rather than later," Ramon stated. "I have a bad feeling that our plan will not go as well as we hope that it will. The sooner we can get out of here, the better."

"I have the same feeling," Jacques responded.

Late into the evening, the slaves who had been working all day long were finally released to go back to their quarters at the opposite end of the camp from where Ray Pinion's large, sturdy tent was set up. The slaves lived within old, tattered, and unsteady tents set up for them since Pinion and his men had set up this slave camp.

Siroc walked inside one of the tents and observed the men, women, and children within as some of them got ready to eat the meager bit of food given to them by the guards for dinner, while others worked on tending to those who were injured while working during the day or on those who had become ill.

Siroc slowly walked over to where a woman lay on the ground being tended to by a man he assumed was her husband. As he came upon them, Siroc picked up a rag, soaked it in water, and began to wipe it across her forehead. He could see that she had a fever, but that it was not serious.

"Your wife is going to be all right as long as she gets plenty of rest and is not forced to work her next shift tomorrow," Siroc spoke softly as she and her husband looked over at him questioningly. "My name is Siroc. I am new here to the camp. I just want to help."

"That is very kind of you, young man," the older man replied. "We all mostly keep to ourselves out of fear of the Master and his men."

Siroc nodded and looked among the people inside the tent as he continued, "I am looking for a man by the name of Jeremiah. He has a son by the name of Peter, who escaped the camp two days ago. Do you know him?"

The man shook his head and answered, "As I said before, we do not know each other very well. We help each other with our work and when we are taken ill, but there is not much talking amongst us. I overheard the guards talking angrily about a child who had managed to escape from them, but that he did not get far. They said something about how he had fallen into the river; very sad."

"The boy is alive," Siroc responded. "My friends and I found him and saved his life. I am not a slave, but a musketeer. My friends and I are here to find the boy's father so that we can bring him back to him. Once we complete our mission, we will be back to free the rest of you."

"You are crazy if you think Pinion will allow you to even survive once he discovers why you are really here," the man said. "It would be best if you do not go around telling anyone else this."

Siroc nodded and was about to say something more until suddenly a young man in tears came running wildly into the tent carrying a young girl in his arms, who had become seriously hurt. Siroc quickly ran over to the young man and helped him to lay her down on one of the blankets that everyone slept on.

He found that both of her wrists were bleeding due to them being cut by some sharp object. Siroc grabbed onto someone's shirt that was lying on the ground nearby, quickly tore it into two halves, and tightly wrapped one half around her right wrist. Then he did the same to her left just as quickly. He kept his hands wrapped tightly over each one to keep pressure over them. Everyone around them just watched in awe as this stranger worked swiftly to help this young girl.

Siroc suddenly shouted to the young man beside him, "As quickly as you can, I need you to gather as many pieces of cloth you can find and tear them into strips so that I can wrap them around her wrists as well. They have both been cut deeply and she has lost a lot of blood. Her blood will soak through these in seconds."

As the young man did so he asked, "Are you a physician?"

"More like an inventor," Siroc answered. "But I have studied and read many books on healing and medicines. I will do all I can to save her. I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

Lesser Evil

Chapter Five

Siroc held his pressure on both of the girl's wrists until the young man beside him finished tearing the cloth into strips as he had asked and then asked him to apply pressure as he had been doing, while he quickly placed both hands over her left. After her blood soaked through several strips of the cloth, Siroc finally lifted the pressure he held over her wrist and found that her blood was no longer flowing as much as before.

Siroc then began to look at the wounds and soon discovered that the cuts were not caused by the hard labor the slaves were being forced to do, but that they were self-inflicted. It pained him to realize that this young girl had tried to kill herself because she saw no way out of the life she had been forced into.

"Does anyone have a needle and thread?" Siroc asked to no one in particular within the tent. "I am going to sew the wounds closed. I can't guarantee she will survive, but if I don't do this, she will die for sure."

"I have some for you," a woman answered from behind him.

Siroc looked at the woman as he took the items from her hand and responded, "Thank you, Ma'am."

The young man who carried her into the tent looked at Siroc and quietly asked, "Do you have an idea as to what happened. I only found her outside of the tent as I made my way back from our work today."

"She is your sister, correct?" Siroc asked. "Are your parents around here somewhere?"

"Both of our parents are gone," the boy replied. "She is all I have left. What happened to her? Did someone do this to her?"

Siroc looked down at the girl as he gently began stitching up the cuts in her right wrist and answered sadly, "I am afraid these wounds are self-inflicted. She made these cuts in her wrists herself. Has she been distraught lately? Have you seen any signs...?"

The boy interrupted as he said, "I had no idea she would do something like this to herself. I mean, she hasn't spoken since our father was killed by our Master and our mother died of a fever a few weeks ago, but I didn't think…"

"I am sorry," Siroc cut in. "I didn't mean to accuse you of not paying any mind to her distress. I can see that you love her very much. I know what it is like to believe that life is not worth living. That death is the only escape from this hell, but I couldn't just give up. I fought until I managed to find something worth living for."

"But you are still a slave and here with us," the young man responded. "What could you possibly have that is worth living for?"

Siroc was about to say something until Ramon suddenly walked inside the tent and swiftly made his way over to where Siroc was kneeling over the young girl on the ground and he could then see why.

The girl's brother quickly stood and attempted to punch Ramon in the face, but Ramon managed to catch his arm before he could as Siroc quickly stood and grabbed the boy from behind as he said, "This man is not one of Pinion's men. He is my friend. He is a musketeer."

"A musketeer?" the boy stated questioningly. "I do not understand."

"I am here to speak with Siroc," Ramon replied as he looked around at the frightened people inside the tent. "I cannot stay long. Siroc, what is going on here? What happened to this little girl and these other people?"

Siroc knelt back down over the girl and continued his work as he answered, "She tried to end her life and the woman over there has fallen ill, as well as a few of the others. They have been forced to work anyway. Many of these people are going to die if we can't find a way to set them free too and soon."

The young man looked down at the man helping his sister and stated, "You're a musketeer too. Why would you come here and pretend to be a slave?"

"We are looking for a man by the name of Jeremiah," Siroc responded. He has a son named Peter, who needs him. We are here to find Jeremiah and bring him back to him. Do you know him?"

"No," the boy replied. "But there are over a hundred slaves here in the camp and we keep to ourselves."

As Siroc finished stitching the sister's wounds, he stood to face Ramon and said, "We will stick to the plan to find Jeremiah and I will help you all to escape, but I am staying behind to help these people."

Ramon began to protest as he stated, "You cannot do this, Siroc. You are one of us; not a slave."

"I was a slave once," Siroc answered. "I know how these people feel. They need help and I can be here for them. Just get Jeremiah back to his son and come back here with the king to set us free."

"D'artagnan and Jacques will not like this," Ramon responded. "I do not like this. It's crazy."

Siroc replied, "I have faith in you. Now go before you get caught here with us."

Ramon looked once more at his friend and turned to leave the tent the same way he came in. Siroc turned and picked up the bowl of water that he had used to wipe down the older woman's forehead when he first came inside the tent. He carefully set it down near the girl's body and gently began to wipe her skin as well.

Her brother grabbed another rag and began to do as Siroc was doing as he asked, "Why would you go back to being a slave to help a group of people you don't even know? Nothing is worth going through this kind of suffering all over again."

"After I left this life and became a musketeer, I dedicated my life to freeing people from tyranny and the evils in this world," Siroc answered. "I prayed I would never end up in a slave camp again, but this is where I am needed and I will do all I can to set you free. I promise."

About an hour later, D'artagnan walked back to the tent where Ramon and Jacques were impatiently waiting for him. He had just come from having a drink with Ray Pinion, who had requested to speak with him in hopes of getting to know more about him and his friends. It was mostly curiosity that made the man want to know about these strangers.

They were not the only men inside the tent and so as soon D'artagnan came in, Jacques and Ramon grabbed him and pulled him outside so that they could speak in private. From the look on their faces, D'artagnan could see that they did not have good news.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Jacques answered, "Ramon went to speak with Siroc while you were with Pinion. He is staying behind while we bring Jeremiah back to his son, if we ever find him."

Ramon continued, "I tried to talk him out of it, but he would not listen to reason."

"As much as I wish he would come with us, his skills are certainly needed here," D'artagnan replied. "Pinion is a cruel pig. Many of these people have been killed already and others are sick. He brags about what he is doing here. They need Siroc. Once we get back to the palace, we will ride back here with King Louis, Captain Duval, and more men to rescue them."

"Did you try to find out where he is sending the weapons these people are being forced to make?" Jacques asked.

D'artagnan responded, "I tried to, but he doesn't trust me enough to reveal his plans to me. Despite what he seems, he is no fool."

Ramon stated, "When this is over, I hope that I can have the opportunity to kill him myself. He will suffer my wrath, of that I am certain!"


	6. Chapter 6

Lesser Evil

Chapter Six

Meanwhile…

Inside his secret chambers below the palace, Cardinal Mazarin watched as an old friend, whom he had not spoken with for several years, walked away after a very interesting meeting. As Mazarin started to change out of his robe that he wore during his meetings with his secret order, the Knights of the Tabernacle, Captain Bernard walked into the room.

He was the first to speak as he asked, "How did the meeting go?"

Mazarin answered, "It was enlightening. I believe I have just made it so that we can finally be rid of the pesky musketeers for good, as long as everything goes as planned. When one falls, the rest will soon follow."

"The others will not allow their friend to fall," Bernard responded as he was unsure of the plan.

"This is precisely why the four of them will fall together and once Louis discovers that his most trusted musketeers have betrayed him, Duvall will at the very least be let go from his position as captain of the musketeers," Mazarin replied. "It is perfect!"

Back at the slave camp…

Two days have passed and the musketeers had yet to locate the boy's father, Jeremiah. Siroc was not given many opportunities to converse with the slaves throughout the camp, accept for at night as they ate and prepared for bed. However, Siroc spent most of his time tending to those who were ill or who had been injured throughout the days. He tried to speak with the men, women, and children in each of the tents, but hardly anyone spoke at any time out of fear of harsh punishment from Pinion and his guards.

On the third morning, two guards walked over to Siroc and lead him to the area in which several men were being forced to forge the weapons for whoever Pinion was in business with. Pinion himself stood there along with the man who the musketeers had first met as they came upon the camp.

As Siroc approached, Pinion was the first to speak up as he said, "Good morning, Newcomer. You do not look well. Have you not slept since you have been here?"

Siroc simply replied crossly, "No."

"I see," Pinion responded. "Perhaps that is because your previous owner and his men treated you too well. You became too comfortable with them and now your comfort has been taken away."

"I will adapt," Siroc sternly answered.

Pinion was about to reply until suddenly one of the slaves collapsed and cried out in pain as he held his hand tightly to his chest. One of the guards nearby the man shouted for the man to stand back up and get back to work, but the man could not comply as he only continued to hold his hand. The guard above the man pulled out his whip, but as the guard was about to strike the slave's back, Siroc ran forward and grabbed a hold of the flog as it was about to hit its mark.

Siroc pulled the whip from the guard's hand and threw it back at him as he shouted to Pinion, "This man has burned his hand trying to mold your weapon! He cannot work in this condition, but if you allow me to treat his burn, he will be better in no time and back to doing your dirty work. I can take over for him and he can do something that will not require much use of this hand. If I do not treat him, there is a good chance he could die. Allow me to do this, and you will not lose another worker."

Pinion said, "You are not yet afraid of me. I can see this in your eyes. I can see your defiance. But soon you will be just like the rest of my slaves. You will fear me. Very well; work here and make my weapons with the rest of these men. You appear to have strong hands. I have been watching you since you arrived. I think you will be better suited here anyway instead of on the grounds digging for the iron."

Pinion walked away, along with his right hand man, and as the guards surrounding Siroc and the man, who had fallen, stepped away from them, Siroc gently pulled the man's arm away from his chest and pulled away his other hand to take a look at the burn.

Siroc stood up and quickly grabbed one of the water buckets, as well as a large rag, and quietly began to work as he poured water over the burn. Then, he took the rag and wiped away the water as he pulled out something small from his pocket and began to wipe the sticky paste over the entire burn.

"This is only an ointment I made to keep the burn from becoming infected and it will help with the pain," Siroc said as he saw the man looking at him quizzically. "Unfortunately, these chains around our wrists will rub a little against the burn. The pain will not disappear completely."

Once Siroc was finished applying the ointment, he picked up the rag and gently wrapped it around most of his hand and as far down his wrist as he could, then tied the ends into a knot above his palm to keep the rag in place.

"Thank you, young man," the older man replied softly so that the guards could not hear. "Why did you stop that guard from striking me? Everyone around here keeps to themselves and we do not do anything to draw Pinion's men's attentions. Why do you risk punishment for a stranger?"

Siroc looked over at the guard, who was glaring at him, as he answered, "I don't care what these men do to me. I cannot just stand back and do nothing when there is something I can do to help innocent people. I could use your help in return. I am looking for a man by the name of Jeremiah. He has a son named Peter. Do you know him?"

The man looked at his wrapped hand and then looked around at the other slaves and responded quietly, "The man you are looking for is standing above the last fire pit which he is currently building. Just this morning, Pinion has gathered almost twice as many of us as before in order to pick up the pace of our work. He wants more weapons made in less time."

"Do you know who these weapons are going to or why he wants them done faster than before?" Siroc asked.

"We know better than to ask questions and even if we did, do you really think they would tell us?" the man replied. "The guards keep to themselves too. Not much talking goes on around here."

Siroc stated, "So I've noticed."

One of the overheard them talking to themselves as he suddenly walked closer to them and firmly stated, "No talking. Finish what you're doing and get back to work."

"Thank you," Siroc said as they quickly stood. "I will take a look at your hand again tonight. In the meantime, try not to use it much, if at all."

The man walked away from Siroc as Siroc began to take over his previous work at one of the fire pits, molding a sword. The man had burned his hand as it slipped from the grip he had on the unfinished sword's hilt. He noticed that the tools the slaves were using were old, rusted, and worn down.

The guards were not the only ones keeping their eyes on Siroc as he worked throughout the day. The slaves were as well and were in awe as they observed how fast and efficiently he worked with the tools. By the end of the day, Siroc had finished molding two swords, helped to build three fire pits, and repaired several tools. Even though they knew that Siroc was a newcomer, he came across as a slave who had been working here his whole life.

As the slaves were then gathered to go back to their tents for the night, Siroc pushed his way through the men to get to Jeremiah and after doing so he whispered, "I am here on behalf of your son, Peter. We found him in the woods and he told us you had sent him to find the musketeers for help. My friends and I are here to help."

Jeremiah looked at the man next to him as he whispered back, "You found my son? Is he all right?"

"Peter is just fine," Siroc answered quickly. "I need you to listen to me once we get back to the tents and do as I say. My friends and I will get you back to him, I promise."


	7. Chapter 7

Lesser Evil

Chapter Seven

As Pinion and his right hand escorted Siroc to the area where the slaves were melting down the iron to make the weapons, several of his other men, as well as D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon, were busy working loading the finished weapons into crates and getting them ready for shipment.

The musketeers tried again to find out from Pinion's men where these crates were going and finally were rewarded with an answer, but they were not given much detail. All they knew was that there was a wealthy benefactor coming later this afternoon with a small army to collect these weapons. The musketeers sensed that Pinion and whoever this benefactor was were up to no good, but they were unsure of what they could do about it or if they should even try to do something to stop it. They wished that their captain was there with them to give them orders for this situation.

Once they all arrived back at the main camp, D'artagnan, Ramon, and Jacques looked around at the slaves working for the iron and found that Siroc was not anywhere among them. D'artagnan told his friends he would go and speak with Pinion about where they had moved him to.

As their leader walked inside the large tent, he found Pinion once again stuffing food in his mouth, but D'artagnan spoke up anyway asking, "Where is my man? I didn't see him out among the others."

Between mouthfuls, Pinion replied, "I decided to move your slave to where the rest of my slaves are molding my weapons. His talents were being wasted out in the open digging for the iron. From what I hear from my men, he knows more about making weaponry then the rest of my slaves combined. What exactly did you and your men have him doing before you brought him here to me?"

"He worked hard for us," D'artagnan answered. "We had him do all the cleaning, he washed our laundry, and tended to our horses. He repaired the horses' shoes once they become worn down. He's quite the blacksmith, even an inventor of sorts."

"So I am told," Pinion responded.

D'artagnan firmly stated, "I wished we had been informed ahead of time of your decision. He may be a slave, but we still want to make sure he is treated fairly and well."

Pinion slowly stood from his chair and smugly replied, "You sold him to me because you can no longer afford to keep him on. You will not refuse to sell him to me. You need my money, or you wouldn't have brought him here to begin with. He is no longer your concern; he's mine. Come by my tent later tonight and I will have the rest of your money. Then, you and your men will leave my camp. Am I understood?"

"I understand," D'artagnan answered as he turned and walked out of the tent to find his friends.

Once D'artagnan found Jacques and Ramon, Jacques asked, "So, where is Siroc?"

D'artagnan responded, "Pinion had him moved to work with the other slaves, who are making the weapons. Apparently, he saw Siroc's talents. We've got a big problem."

"What could be worse than some wealthy stranger coming to pick up dozens of crates full of weapons to build up an army?" Ramon asked.

"Pinion has decided to pay us the rest of the money for Siroc tonight and then wants us to leave," D'artagnan replied. "The smug ogre made a point to tell me that he had no intention of treating Siroc like a human. I hope he's found Jeremiah by now. We have to make our move to get him out tonight, then gather the rest of the musketeers together to come back for Siroc and the rest of these slaves."

Jacques stated, "We are going to have to fight an entire army and we don't even know the size of it yet. Innocent men and women are going to get killed; children too.

D'artagnan responded, "We are just going to have to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn't happen. Ramon, go and find Siroc and find out if he has found Peter's father yet. Warn him about what has happened and assure him we will be back."

Ramon nodded and ran off to search for where Siroc and the slaves were working to make the weapons for Pinion. D'artagnan and Jacques stayed behind to keep an eye on the rest of the camp as they worked to come up with a plan to leave later that night with Jeremiah, without Pinion or his men knowing about the escape.

About twenty minutes later, Ramon finally found where Siroc was currently molding hot ore into a sword. As he walked toward the slaves there, he quickly pulled out a few loaves of bread he had grabbed before leaving the camp and began to hand it out to the men in order to keep from arousing the guards' suspicions as to why he was there.

Ramon slowly made his way over to Siroc and as he did so, he handed him a loaf and softly whispered, "We must leave with Jeremiah tonight. Pinion has agreed to take you in and is planning to pay D'artagnan the rest of the money later. Once it is done, he is going to insist we leave the camp for good. Have you found him yet?"

Siroc whispered back, "The boy's father is currently standing over the fire pit ten feet from us. I've told him of our plan to take him back to his son. Have you come up with an escape?"

"D'artagnan and Jacques are working it out right now," Ramon answered. "I better leave before the guards come over here wondering what we are whispering about. Are you sure you want to stay behind? A war is going to break out when we arrive with a large group of musketeers to help free the rest of the slaves. Especially since the beneficiary of these weapons will be here with his own army."

"I have to stay," Siroc responded. "I will be all right."

Ramon stated, "Very well. We will be back. Just make sure Jeremiah is ready."

Siroc nodded as Ramon walked away and left to head back to the main camp. Siroc quickly finished the sword he was working on and then walked over to speak with Jeremiah as they split the loaf of bread that Ramon had given him.

Jeremiah asked, "Are you sure you and your friends can pull this off? How are we going to get past all of Pinion's men?"

"I assure you that my friends will get you out of here safely," Siroc answered. "You will be back with your son by morning; I promise."


	8. Chapter 8

Lesser Evil

Chapter Eight

Later that evening, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon were invited to Pinion's tent. The musketeers expected that it was so that Pinion could pay them the rest of the money that he owed them. As they entered inside the large tent, they found another man standing with his back to them and next to Pinion, who was once again sitting in his chair. The stranger's clothes were fancy and a large feather was attached to the side of his hat. He dressed like a nobleman.

The man kept his back to them as Pinion spoke first saying, "Gentlemen, I am afraid that something has come to my attention and I will no longer be paying you the money you are asking me for. It appears that your slave doesn't belong to you after all."

D'artagnan replied, "What are you talking about?"

"Rest assured, you may keep the money I have already paid you for him, seeing as how grateful my friend and I are that you have brought him here, but Siroc is no longer your concern," Pinion answered.

"He is mine," the fancy stranger responded as he finally turned around to face them men. "My name is Ricardo Messina and Siroc belongs to me. He always has, but years ago he ran away from my own slave camp after leaving me with this hideous deformity."

Realization dawned on the musketeers as they stared at the large scar that ran from under the man's left eye, down to the middle of his upper lip. This was the man that Siroc had escaped from years ago; the same man responsible for the death of his parents and friend. Their realization was then confirmed when Siroc was suddenly dragged into the tent and roughly shoved down to the ground at Messina's feet.

Siroc glared at the man as he finally saw him standing above him and then turned away to face the ground as Ricardo spoke up again saying, "Hello again, Siroc. I have to say, I never expected to see you again seeing as it has been over six years, but I am very happy indeed. I searched for you for a long time."

D'artagnan suddenly stepped forward as he said, "With all due respect, Sir. He has been with us for over six years and has since been under our charge. Not just anyone can come in here and claim he belongs to them. We brought him here to Pinion and we insist we are paid what we are owed by him alone. Otherwise, we will take him back with us and find someone else we can depend on."

"I am afraid you no longer have a choice in the matter," Messina replied as he snapped his fingers and three of his men walked inside the tent, stepping up right behind Siroc. "He belongs to me, which gives me the right to punish him for his insolence however I see fit."

"No, stop!" Ramon shouted as Ricardo's three men grabbed Siroc and pulled him out of the tent and toward a pole in the center of the camp, where all of the slaves would be forced to watch what was about to happen to him.

As the men shoved Siroc against the pole and wrapped the chain between his cuffed wrists around a hook well above his head, the young inventor kept his eyes trained on his friends and he could see that they were all about ready to pick a fight against the men to help him. However, Siroc knew that they would never be successful without them getting killed, or worse, the innocent men, women, and children around them.

As he finally locked eyes with his friends, once Pinion's men moved out of the way, Siroc gently shook his head to warn them to stand down. D'artagnan, Ramon, and Jacques saw this and understood what Siroc was telling them. They kept still as Messina and Pinion moved forward, while Messina held a cat with bone shards in each of the leather strands in his right hand, knowing that it would inflict an immense amount of pain.

Siroc kept his eyes locked on his friends until the first strike across his back. As it came, he turned away from them, hoping to hide his pain. Messina smiled as Siroc tensed up strike after strike, but grew tired after Siroc refused to cry out. After he had given him forty lashes, Ricardo handed the cat down to one of his own men and ordered him to continue until Siroc became unconscious.

As Ricardo began to whip their friend, D'artagnan, Ramon, and Jacques stepped away from the center and moved behind all of the slaves in order to speak without them being overheard by Messina's and Pinion's men.

D'artagnan spoke up quietly, but firmly saying, "We can't do anything to help Siroc now, but Ramon, I need you to ride back to Captain Duval and tell him to gather as many men as he can to come back here as fast as you can. We will do all we can to keep Siroc alive from here. As for our plan to bring Jeremiah to his son, Ramon, you will bring him with you. That part of our plan is still workable.

Ramon shook his head angrily as he replied, "We cannot allow these monsters to hurt and humiliate Siroc like this. How are you going to make sure Messina does not decide to kill Siroc before we get back?"

"I'm not sure, but we have no choice, Ramon," D'artagnan argued. "We can't do anything that will jeopardize the lives of these people. You know that; Siroc knows that."

"Why do I have to be the one to go?" Ramon asked.

Jacques responded, "Because you are too angry to stay here without interfering. Besides, you're the faster rider. You can get home and back before we could."

Ramon nodded and ran off to find Jeremiah as both Jacques and D'artagnan moved once again through the crowd gathered around the pole where Siroc was being tortured in order to show the slaves what would happen to them should they choose to be disobedient. They looked on angrily and saw that Messina and Pinion, as well as all of their men, were laughing.

Siroc kept his head down and turned away from the people looking on. His body shook from the pain of the lashes, but the pain wasn't what was hurting him the most. His worst fear was coming true. In a matter of time, he would die as a slave.


	9. Chapter 9

Lesser Evil

Chapter Nine

Once Messina finished giving Siroc the first forty lashes, the scarred man walked alongside Pinion back inside the large tent. Once they arrived and took their seats, Pinion poured them both a drink and then began to smoke a cigar. Outside, Messina's men continued to whip Siroc as they were told to do.

Pinion was the first to speak as he asked, "So, how is it that you learned of your old slave being here anyway?"

Ricardo Messina answered, "I learned it from a mutual friend, who still likes to work under cloak and dagger. If you ask me, Mazarin should just kill young Louis and take over like he's been planning for years. I don't understand why he is taking so long."

"He worries about the musketeers, mainly their captain, Duval," Pinion responded. "And if he were to kill the man personally, surely the other musketeers would figure him out. He told me once he believes there are a few, who suspect his treachery already. The question I want to know the answer to is, why did Mazarin feel it necessary to tell you about your old slave being here? What game is he playing that involves us?"

As he subconsciously began to run his fingers along the scar across his face, Messina replied, "I am not sure. He didn't say, but I don't really care. I have been searching for Siroc ever since he did this to me years ago. I want him to suffer as I have suffered."

Pinion responded, "Oh, I think you've accomplished that, My Friend. I think…"

Before the fat man could finish his sentence, one of his men barged into the tent and stated that one of the fire pits that had been built by the slaves had caught on fire and that two of his men had been injured. Pinion ordered his man to find out what happened and to punish the slaves responsible for the fire.

Meanwhile…

As quickly as he could, Ramon snuck away from the center of the camp, where his friend was being tortured, and snuck away to the area, where Jeremiah and the other slaves were working on molding the iron into the weapons for Pinion and Messina. As he arrived, he made his way over to where Jeremiah was busy loading the weapons onto the several wagons Messina and his men had brought in with them.

Once the guards were no longer looking in their direction, Ramon snuck up behind Jeremiah and quickly pulled him down behind several of the crates and urgently whispered, "We need to make our escape now! There is no time to lose."

Jeremiah whispered back as he asked, "Has something happened?"

"Siroc's life is at stake, as are the rest of ours if we do not leave this camp now," Ramon answered. "Just follow me and do as I say. I promise you, I will get you back to your son."

"I trust you because I trust Siroc," Jeremiah responded. "I've seen the care he has shown for us slaves here."

Ramon only nodded as he cautiously led Jeremiah from behind the crates and then took cover behind one of the fire pits as the guards once again turned toward their direction. Jeremiah placed a finger to his mouth in motion for the other slaves to remain silent as they hid from the men.

As Ramon saw that there was no way for them to escape without being caught, he cursed and said, "There are too many men."

Jeremiah asked, "What do we do now?"

"We draw their attention with a little firework," Ramon replied. "Thanks again to Siroc's genius mind."

Ramon withdrew a small pouch from around his neck that he hid under his clothing and pulled from it a pinch of what looked like gunpowder. After he motioned for the slaves surrounding the pit to move away from it, he dropped the powder into the fire, shoved Jeremiah forward quickly, and covered him with his own body as the fire pit suddenly exploded, causing sparks to fly in all directions.

Some of the slaves and Pinion's men began to scramble around in fear and some watched in awe as the fire burst into blue flames, while Ramon grabbed Jeremiah and the two of them ran from the camp, unbeknownst by the guards. They quickly ran deep into the woods as they made their way to the area where they had tied up their horses near a brook to rest, while they waited for their masters to come back for them.

Ramon and Jeremiah rode their horses hard and fast in hopes of getting back to the palace as soon as they could. About five and a half hours later, they finally made it back to the musketeers' quarters where Jeremiah knew his son, Peter, was waiting for him and where Ramon prayed that their captain was waiting for their return.

When they walked inside the quarters, they found Duval sitting alongside Peter on the boy's bed and as they entered his room, Peter ran into his father's arms. Duval smiled as he watched the boy and his father together again and then as he looked over at Ramon, he saw the Spaniard motioning for him to come closer, wanting to speak with him in private.

Ramon spoke up first saying, "Forgive me, Captain, but things have changed and we need you to gather as many musketeers as you can to fight against not only the slave owner's men, but a small army as well. Siroc's life is at stake!"

Duval responded as he asked, "What has happened?"

"A friend of Pinion's came to the camp to pick up crates full of weapons for his men that Pinion was forcing his slaves to make and to take revenge on Siroc for being the man, who escaped from him after giving him the scar across his face. Ricardo Messina was Siroc's past owner and he somehow learned that Siroc was there at the camp," Ramon answered.

"But how did he know?" Duval asked. "We musketeers and Louis are the only ones, who knew of the plan to send him in as a slave, while the rest of you posed as his owners. How could this, Messina, possibly know?"

Ramon responded, "I am not certain, but I would not be surprised if Mazarin has something to do with the discovery. Perhaps the King has told him. It does not matter. Siroc and the other slaves need our help now!"

Duval replied, "Right! Where are D'artagnan and Jacques? Did they stay behind with Siroc?"

"Yes, Sir," Ramon stated.

"I will gather the men as quickly as possible," Duval responded. "You go and prepare yourself another horse. We will address King Louis later, once we return with the others."

Before Ramon took off, Jeremiah and his son walked over to them and said, "Thank you both for taking care of my son and bringing me back to him as you promised. I can never repay your kindness, especially Siroc's. I pray that you will save him in time."

Duval replied, "You have quite the son. It has been an honor to help you to become reunited. Go free and have a new life here in town. That is payment enough."

About an hour later, Captain Duval, Ramon, and an army of musketeers raced through the woods on horses toward Ray Pinion's slave camp, in hope of rescuing three of their own, as well as the rest of the men, women, and children who have been forced into slavery by the evils they fight against day after day.


	10. Chapter 10

Lesser Evil

Chapter Ten

Jacques was sitting under a tree nearby where she and her companions had tied their horses up days earlier when they had first arrived at Pinion's slave camp, while keeping watch for D'artagnan to come back from sneaking inside the camp. After being gone for almost an hour, D'artagnan finally came back on foot and from the look on his face, his news was not good.

"What's wrong?" Jacques asked anxiously.

"Siroc can't hold on any longer," D'artagnan answered. "He'll die if we don't get him some help soon. He's barely conscious. We cannot wait for Ramon and Captain Duval. You and I will have to find a way to break him free ourselves."

Jacques nodded and responded, "Agreed. What is taking them so long to return? It has almost been twelve hours since Ramon left. What are we going to do?"

D'artagnan solemnly replied, "I'm not sure. Once you and I get close enough to Siroc to cut him down from the post and begin to fight against the guards, I hope that the other slaves will step in and help us after all Siroc has done for them. We can only pray that Ramon will arrive in time before we are overrun. If Siroc dies, he will die as a musketeer fighting for what's right; not as a slave, who has been chained up to pole to be humiliated."

"I doubt we will be able to get close enough to Siroc while carrying our swords," Jacques said.

"Which is why we'll ride into the camp with all our gear on our horses and ask to speak with Pinion," D'artagnan responded as he suddenly got an idea. "Leave the talking to me. You'll know when to fight."

Jacques understood and answered, "It's a good thing Siroc got the idea to hide our swords inside these hollowed out staffs."

A short time later…

Pinion and Messina were conversing inside his tent as they ate supper and shared a bottle of wine. The two of them talked business, while most of Messina's men and some of Pinion's worked to load the crates full of weapons onto the wagons Messina brought with him. They were enjoying each other's company until they were suddenly interrupted by two of Pinion's guards as they escorted in both D'artagnan and Jacques.

Pinion was the first to speak as he asked, "Gentlemen, I thought we settled our deal earlier?"

D'artagnan pulled out his money purse from around his neck and answered, "We did, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would be wrong to accept any of your money. We came here believing we were handing our slave over to you to work, not to be tortured and humiliated. If I accept this money, I won't be able to sleep at night. I am not a heartless slave owner as you are."

"That is very noble of you," Messina replied. "I have never known a slave owner who cares about what happens to a slave. Are you certain you are not here for something else?"

"Only to return the money," D'artagnan spoke again. "Excuse the interruption."

He and Jacques turned to leave the tent as Messina and Pinion stood and followed the musketeers out, but stopped outside the tent. The musketeers walked over to pick up their horses' reins and walked them through the middle of the camp and slowed down as they got closer to where Siroc was still chained up against the pole. Jacques looked to D'artagnan and waited for his signal to pull out her sword.

He suddenly shouted and together they both pulled down their staffs from their horses, knocked down the guards nearest to them, and when they had a moment before more of the men were upon them, they pulled their swords from out of the staffs and began to fight as musketeers. Pinion and Messina shouted for their men to kill them and within a few minutes saw that the two were about to become outnumbered.

However, the moment of anticipation of their deaths were short lived when they suddenly heard shouting and the sound of hooves coming from above them in the direction of the woods. Everyone looked up and saw dozens of musketeers storming in on horses, racing into the camp. Some of the guards slowed their attack in fear, while D'artagnan and Jacques fought harder against them.

As the battle was happening around them, most of the men, the women, and their children began to run toward their tents. Those who did not run for cover stayed to fight against Pinion's men alongside the musketeers for payback, using whatever weapons they could get ahold of, for the pain and suffering they caused them and their families.

Both Ramon and Duval stormed into the middle of the camp and joined their friends against the guards surrounding them and Siroc. Pinion waddled back inside his tent and began to gather as much of his stashed money and food that he could into a large, single bag, while Messina joined in on the fight.

When he saw that his friends had a handle on things, Ramon turned to Siroc and broke through the chains holding him against the pole using his sword. They were old and rusted, therefore easy to break through with the right pressure. As soon as Siroc was loose, the youngest musketeer collapsed into Ramon's arms and as gently and quickly as he could, Ramon lifted his friend and guided him through the chaos toward one of the slaves' tents. Siroc was conscious and trying hard to keep all of his weight from falling onto Ramon, but he was weak and in severe pain.

"You did not think we would abandon you, did you, My Friend?" Ramon asked lightly, trying to ease their situation. "Just hold on. You will be fine in no time. You may hate the man, as do I, but Doctor Maloraux has been dragged along to help you. We had to find someone, seeing as you are the better physician. He was not too thrilled to join us."

Siroc wanted to say something in response, but was too busy concentrating on staying conscious. Just as they were about to get out of the crowd and make their last few feet to the tent, Siroc turned his head just in time to warn Ramon of a danger coming up from behind them. The inventor suddenly pushed Ramon away from himself and collapsed to the ground, so that Ramon could pull up his sword in time to fight against Messina as he attacked.

"I will not allow you or your friends help Siroc escape from me again," Ricardo snarled angrily. "Not after what he did to me."

As Ramon stood his ground preparing for Messina's attack, he replied, "I believe you were the one who made the first offense when you attacked and murdered his parents, as well as countless offenses since. That scar suits you."

Messina attacked Ramon and together they fought with their swords as Siroc continued to lie on the ground and fought his own battle with consciousness. He kept his eyes so focused on his friend, as well as on Messina, remembering that Messina was more skilled with a sword than Ramon was, that he failed to notice two of the slaves exit the tents and run toward him until they began to lift him up from off the ground.

Ramon saw this as he fought Messina and shouted at the men to help his friend inside the tent. Siroc weakly fought against them, but they did not stop until they all heard Ramon suddenly shout out in pain. Siroc collapsed back down to the ground as he watched Ramon stumble backward after Ricardo slashed his sword across his chest. Ramon was in trouble.

That was until Ramon heard his friend shout out, "Ramon, fall back!"

Ramon did as Siroc said, just in time to avoid being overpowered by smoke bomb as it exploded at Ricardo Messina's feet. Messina cried out as he was startled by the attack and then struggled to see through the smoke, when he suddenly felt a sword enter through his back and exit through his chest, then felt it being ripped out.

As the man with the long scar across his face fell to the ground himself and turned his head to see D'artagnan holding his bloodied sword in his hand. He looked down at the large wound and then back up at D'artagnan, Ramon, and Jacques, both of whom joined their leader at his side.

As he struggled to breathe, Messina angrily asked, "How did you…?"

Ramon answered, "Siroc is no slave. He is a musketeer. As well as one heck of an inventor and he has bested you once again."

As Messina died, Ramon raced over to Siroc, who was now unconscious in the two slaves' arms. Ramon helped the men gently lift him from the ground and carry him inside the tent, while D'artagnan and Jacques followed close behind. They lay him down on his stomach on one of the cots and stood back until Ramon shouted for them to get him some water and clean rags. Then, he looked up to his friends, who knew exactly what he was about to ask before he had to ask it. Jacques ran from the tent to go find the physician whom Ramon, Duval, and the other musketeers had brought along with them.

"What did happen before?" D'artagnan asked. "As soon as we saw you were in trouble, Jacques and I raced to get to you in time, but where did the smoke come from? It gave us the distraction we needed to kill him before he finished you off. Did you manage to throw one of Siroc's bombs?"

"Siroc threw it," Ramon responded solemnly. "He must have pulled the smoke bomb from my coat pocket as I struggled to get him to the tent before my fight with Messina. Siroc must have known the monster would come after him to try to finish him off and that I would be too busy helping him to pay attention to my surroundings. He used up his last bit of strength to save me."

D'artagnan looked down at his friend lying unconscious on the cot and replied, "As you would have done for him, as well as the rest of us."

Ramon banged his fists against the side of the cot and angrily answered, "This never should have happened! It wasn't supposed to be like this! We were supposed to protect him."

"You're right," D'artagnan said. "We failed to figure that something like his previous owner showing up could happen, but he would be the first to tell you that our plan was the right thing to do. We saved Jeremiah and reunited him with his son, with minimum casualties. Believe me, I am just as angry that Siroc had to be one of them."

Before Ramon could say anything else, the slaves came back with the water and rags and carefully set them on the ground beside Ramon, who then began to wipe a wet rag across Siroc's forehead. Soon after, Jacques came running back inside the tent, followed by Captain Duval and Doctor Maloraux, who grudgingly knelt down beside Siroc and began look him over while Ramon continued his vigil.

"How is he?" Duval asked.

Maloraux answered, "Many of the lashes only caused minimum damage to his back. However, many of them also cut deeper, not only through his skin, but into his muscle tissue as well. He's lost a lot of blood and he is severely dehydrated, I'd say it would be because he was forced to be chained up outside in the sun all day long. I don't think…"

Duval interrupted, "Just do whatever you can to save him. You owe him for saving your position as the King's physician."

The doctor nodded and continued to take care of Siroc, while Duval pulled both D'artagnan and Jacques away to speak with them in private. He wanted to know what happened while they were making their way to the camp.

"Why did we arrive just in time to keep the two of you from being overpowered?" Duval asked.

"Siroc needed help and we had no idea how much longer it was going to take for you to arrive, Sir," Jacques replied.

D'artagnan continued, "We didn't count on Messina coming here to collect weapons from Pinion. A fight was going to happen no matter what, Captain. Speaking of Pinion, where did he disappear to?"

Duval responded, "If you mean the fat man trying to escape while carrying a heavy bag full of coins and a handful of food, a few of the men, who were forced into slavery by him, dragged him back into the camp and tied him up to the pole in the center of camp. From the amount of blood I saw there, I assume that is where Siroc was tortured?"

"Yes, Sir," Ramon said as he joined them. "I will take great pleasure in making sure that that pig pays for what he has done; for Siroc."

"We will drag him before the King to stand trial for his crimes," Duval replied. "I doubt he will receive nothing less than the punishment of beheading. And I shall convince Louis to grant Siroc a full pardon for his deceit and the proper ceremony due to him of becoming a true musketeer."

Ramon answered, "Thank you, Captain."

A little over three weeks later…

The musketeers and the entire kingdom gathered together to watch and listen as the King officially made Siroc a musketeer. Siroc was still recovering from his ordeal and though he still struggled with not just the pain, but the humiliation and torment of once again becoming a slave and facing his worst fear, Siroc was finally at peace knowing that it was all worth it. He no longer had to hide his painful past from his friends and his King and he had saved the lives of a number of men, women, and their children. He would be all right.

"Siroc, as King of France, I hereby grant you the honor of becoming a true musketeer, for your honor, your valor, and your strength to go above and beyond your call of duty to protect my people and to fight for justice and peace with my kingdom," King Louis declared before the people of France while Siroc knelt down before him as Louis gently tapped his sword across both of his shoulders. "You have always been faithful to me and a fabulous inventor. I am glad to have you remain here in my court to go on doing so. Rise, Siroc and join your comrades in arms."

Every musketeer joined in shouting, "All for one and one for all!"

Later that evening, Siroc, Ramon, D'artagnan, and Jacques left the celebration in order to speak alone as Ramon asked, "So Siroc, how does it feel to be the reason for this joyous celebration?"

"I've never felt better," Siroc answered. "Except of course for when I am inventing. It is who I am."

"Yes, we know," D'artagnan responded. "It is because of you that we were able to save those people. We do not know what we would do without you and your skill."

Jacques added, "We don't want to even imagine. Just promise us that you will never keep a secret so big from us again. You know that you can tell us anything."

Siroc nodded and replied, "As you trust us with your secret of being a woman, I know that I can trust you with mine. Thank you for saving my life."

"The honor was ours, My Friend," Ramon answered. "The honor was all ours."

The End


	11. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have read and have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I'm honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


End file.
